Saturday 12:15 p.m.
As it happened, I didn't have long to wait until the next bizarre aspect of the forced march presented itself. My father walked right up the back steps of the house and unlocked it like he owned it.
"Whose house is this?" My mother finally spoke after the long silence in the car and she sounded just as exasperated as I felt.
"Ours dear," my father replied as he proceeded inside.
"Ours!" My mother is practically shrieked, "It's not ours. If it were ours, I would have known about it. This is some other secret of yours. What else have you been hiding David? Is David even your real name?" There was silence before she demanded, "Answer me!" She bounded up the steps after him looking ready to pounce. I wanted to hang back because I had never seen my parents fight like that, but at the same time I wanted to know what was going on. I needed them to stop and talk to me.
"I still can't read your dad's mind." Hector had slipped close to me, "but I'm pretty sure your mom is considering filing for divorce."
My eyes widened at this, and I rushed inside after her. What did he tell her? How did we have a second old house? What was even happening? I heard Jess and Hector behind me as I slowly made my way up the stairs. I hated stairs. I always walked so slowly up or down them for fear of falling. Thankfully there were only four, and they were short. I heard mom and dad's raised voices come from inside but couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
Upon entry, I found myself inside an old kitchen. The place smelled slightly musty, like it hadn't been inhabited for a while and the appliances and floors looked like they were straight out of the 1940s. The stove wasn't rusted but showed its age. The linoleum peeled up in places. I couldn't tell if its diamond pattern started out vaguely green or if it was originally off-white and just aged that color. The whole room gave off a vibe like there could be roaches living in the tight spaces and I didn't want to linger. I followed my parents' voices to a small formal dining room that was furnished with a weathered but formerly lavish table and chairs. I entered just as my mother demanded, "So, did you hatch from an egg then? Is that what you're saying? You're a reptile?"
My father was beet red and he stammered a few times before replying, "Wh-what does hatching have anything to do with anything?"
"Because I married a DRAGON David! And you didn't think to tell me! Everything matters because everything was a LIE!"
"Not everything, Tina." My father tried to approach her, hand outstretched to brush away a wild lock of her thick wavy hair. Momma looked a lot like me, but my hair was darker like my father's, and hers was lighter brown. Her skin was more olive, showing her Italian heritage. I thought between the two of us, she was the looker.
"Don't touch me!" She spat the words at him and swatted his hand away. I'd never seen her like this, and it frightened me.
"Tina!" His voice sounded as shocked as I was. My mother looked practically feral.
"Momma!" I ran to her. To do what, I wasn't sure.
"Baby." She calmed a bit on seeing me, but her voice was still firm, "You stay out of this. It's between Daddy and me."
"One of you needs to tell me what's going on." I pleaded up at her. The waver I added to my voice must have done the trick because she hesitated then wrapped her arm around me possessively.
"Daddy," She looked at him with fire, "is a rotten liar," she accused.
"Now, hold on," he interjected, "That's not fair!"
"You don't get to talk to her, David!" My mother threw up a finger in a "no-no" motion like she was scolding a child, "You lied to us both."
"Daddy isn't who he said he was, sugar. As crazy as it sounds, he isn't even our species."
"She's half my species!" My father tried again, pointing at me, while talking to my mother.
Mom covered my ears like my father was cursing.
"Shut up, why don't you?" my mom screeched.
"I will not!" he shouted back. I dislodged my mother's hands from my ears. They were clearly both banana balls right now.
"Will you both just shut up?" I yelled for good measure.
"Hey, hey!" Hector chose this moment to raise his own voice for reasons unknown. Once he had all of our attention, he lowered his tone. "Does anybody know if being a dragon has anything at all to do with why I can't read his..." and here he pointed to my dad "mind? I mean, I'm new to mind reading and dragons so..."
Both my parents just gawped at him.
"What the what?" my mother finally asked, "speaking of, I've never even seen you in Raina's circle of little friends before. Who are you, even?" I guessed she'd been too busy in the car giving Dad the silent treatment to ask or care.
"I'm Hector." He stepped forward with his hand outstretched, but my father stopped him before he could finish his introduction.
"Hey, kids, Listen. I have an idea. There's something I want to show you. The reason I brought everybody here. Let's all head down there, and then Tina, you and I can finish this conversation privately. Sound good?"
My mother sniffed. Which was probably close enough to a "yes" that my father turned on his heel and led us back toward the little kitchen area.
"What is this about you being a dragon, dad? Is that like a gang? Are you part of one of those secret societies?" My mind was grasping for what "dragon" could mean.
"No, princess, he means literal dragon." My mom said from where she was walking behind us.
I had no words.
"I know this is not my business, but you know he has no scales or horns or giant dragon teeth or whatever dragons are supposed to have, right? I mean, everybody here sees Mr. Brandt is still Mr. Brandt, right?" Jess was sounding concerned.
"He still looks like dad to me." I offered. If she was checking to see who was hallucinating, I wasn't on the list.
"Oh, no," my mom explained, "he's in human form and has been for like several thousand years or something. It's ridiculous and I would have already driven him to a psychiatric facility for a seventy-two hour hold, except he showed me a bit of magic I couldn't deny. Then he turned into a literal giant dragon. And I had to call my friend Karen and borrow some of her pills. Those little ones that calm you down. You know?"
I did not know, but it certainly explained my mom's behavior if she was on some kind of relaxant. All the quiet in the car then the yelling when we got here.
I nodded and gave my dad a look. He gave me a sheepish half-smile and a shoulder shrug.
"All families are complicated. Some more than others, sweetheart," he added.
My mother gave a low growling sound that she made when she was holding back her words. Typically, she made this sound only after a phone call with grandma. So it was a safe assumption that Dad was in some shit.
My father turned again without another word and walked a few steps to the door to what I assumed would be the pantry. It wasn't a large door and we were all squeezed in close. I, being the shortest in the crowd, was at a disadvantage. It wasn't until he stepped back and said, "in you go." That the pathway parted for me.
Oh. Hell no.
The wall to the pantry had slid aside. Beside it was a keypad, which he must have used to punch in the code to cause the wall to move. Behind the wall was a long set of stairs leading down to darkness. Was this like a hidden safe? A safe room, perhaps?
My mom must have had a similar train of thought to mine when she saw the stairway to hell, "Are you kidding me right now, David?" she spat at him.
"I assure you, I am not."
"You want us to go down secret stairs in your secret house... so you can tell us more secrets? How about no?" With that, my mother stormed off.
My father sighed dramatically. I turned to follow her, and I supposed the others would have followed me. I felt totally embarrassed they were here witnessing this, but my dad stopped me.
"Raina baby, please." His eyes were pleading, "will you take your friends down and be safe while I go get your mom?"
"That's a safe room down there?" I asked him. My curiosity was starting to literally prickle at my skin. No, I didn't want to die in some creepy murder basement but yes. Yes, I had to know what the heck was at the bottom of the mystery stairs.
"Yes. The safest anywhere. That, I promise." My father looked... well, I can only describe it as desperate, "Things are crazy right now. I know I've messed up by lying about who I am, what I am. But please, please. Just go downstairs, and I'll explain everything."
I still wasn't convinced my father was a dragon. I gave him a little half grin. This seemed like the time he dared me to go on the largest roller coaster at Six Flags. Raina Brandt did not back out of a dare. Especially one with a prize at the end. He promised answers if I went downstairs. I had been so patient. I was so close. Nothing he was saying about being a "dragon" made sense. It would all be cleared up soon, I was sure of it.
"Fine," I huffed, "You'd better not make me wait."
"I' won't." He kissed my forehead and gestured to the stairs. "I'll get momma and be right down." I sighed and looked at my life-long nemesis. Thankfully these stairs were nice and sturdy, with rails on each side. almost like they'd been built with me in mind. I took them slowly. I heard my father thanking Jess for her patience as well. He even said something to Hector I couldn't catch as I was already making my way in the darkness, being guided by the strips of illumination at the lip of each step, my eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness. Then suddenly, FLASH! As though tripped by motion when my foot touched the final stair, I stood in wonder. Not at some safe room, but at the base of a hallway. An entire network of rooms was down here like an ant colony or honeycomb beneath the house. My mouth formed an "O" as I took in the sight before me. At the bottom of the staircase was an old-looking eastern table, and above it, a painting of a beautiful dark-skinned warrior woman. She stood in the foreground of a collapsing tower, red dust swirling at her feet. Black and grey clouds partially obscuring the devastation in the distance. Atop the table and framing the painting on one side was a small, delicate vase, also eastern looking. On the other side was what I would call a Faberge egg. My mom had a replica my dad gave her for Christmas one year and she loved it. Something told me this was not a replica. Being greeted by these shiny antiques had me entranced, and I was startled to hear Jess right behind me.
"Girl, Move! Get off the stairs. Go somewhere." There was a teasing in her tone. She was trying to lighten the heavy mood from upstairs I could tell.
I chuckled and moved. The spell of the shiny Faberge egg, broken.
"I have never heard your parents like that." She offered as way of an icebreaker. "It was freaky, right?"
I let out a heavy breath I had been holding. "Oh yeah."
"My parents do that shit all the time," Hector offered
"Nobody asked you." I resented that he was even here. That he was privy to any part of my humiliation.
Hector just shrugged. "So what is this, even?"
I ignored him and turned to my real friend. "Jess, let's find out. Have a look around before Dad comes back with Mom."
Jess nodded. "Better than standing around at the foot of the stairs with that creepy painting."
That decided, I glanced left and right. There was only one door to the left of the stairs and an entire hallway of doors to the right. I started to walk right.
Jess pushed past Hector and slid next to me. She opened the first door we came to, and we found a library room with lots of books and a few scattered mis-matched antique-looking chairs.
"Cool." Jess and I both said at once.
"Boring," Hector intoned and kept moving down the line.
"I wanna check this place out," Jess said, "Let doofus go off on his own."
The idea of Hector leaving us alone appealed to me, but the idea of him exploring on his own, in a place somehow belonging to me... a place I didn't know myself, bothered the hell out of me.
"Hector! Come back!" I yelled.
There was a pause, then "No!" and a laugh.
"Hector!" I yelled again.
He just laughed in response. "Your magic doesn't seem to work down here, bruja! I don't have to do what you say."
"Hector," he was so damn frustrating, "stop being weird and just come back, please!"
"I wanna explore." He insisted.
We seemed to be at an impasse.
"Come on!" He pleaded, "Let's peek in just a few more rooms, then I'll come back to your library. I swear." Here he crossed his heart.
I sighed and nodded. Pushy people always got their way. "You coming or staying?" I asked Jess as I turned to leave.
"I'm coming," Jess grumbled, "but we're wasting time. We could be checking out those cool old books."
The next room we found seemed to be a storage room, lined with old stuff of mine and my parents. Clothes, toys. Odds and ends. We moved on quickly. The next door hid something a lot more interesting. Something that could only be described as treasure.
The room was a literal vault. One wall opposite the door was full of locked drawers like a safety deposit box. In glass cases to the left were jewels of various shapes and colors. But right in the middle, on red velvet, like the crown jewels of the Queen of England, were some of the prettiest and shiniest I had ever beheld. Jewelry fit for royals. Necklaces. Earrings. A tiara. A crown. Several ornate headpieces from cultures I couldn't identify at first glance. More necklaces. I walked around the display. My fingers danced again, reaching out to touch, but something in the back of my mind was stopping me. The air in this room felt... cool. In the same way your mouth did when you popped in a fresh stick of peppermint gum. The little hairs on the back of my arms and neck stood up. That... something, unnamed in the back of my brain, it didn't hurt exactly, but it... hummed. It buzzed low and long and heavy like the bass to a song that wasn't playing. I ran a hand up through the back of my hair and chuckled. Part of me wanted to leave this room and never come back. Part of me wanted to stay here and see what would happen next. Maybe the air would get thicker with tingly peppermint, and I would float away like a bubble on a breeze that shouldn't exist.
"The only thing floating away is your tether to reality," said Hector, hovering behind me and whispering, "Your brain is getting weirder by the minute."
"Nobody asked you to eavesdrop," I hissed in return.
"The air isn't minty." He was still talking as I eyed the pretties on display, "but I have goosebumps too." He extended his arms in front of me to show me, "It is strange in here."
"What the hell are you two doing?" Jess looked at us with quizzical disgust, and I realized how we must look with him behind me and his arms out around me.
"Ugh. Nothing." I pushed away Hector's arm and made my escape, "He's just being Hector," I told her.
Jess, whose affinity for shiny things matched my own, reached out and put on an ornate golden headdress with silvery-blue gems. It was topped by some type of fiery stone and looked absolutely fierce. I opened my mouth to tell her she looked awesome when trails of blue light began to make patterns on her skin. She rose from the ground until only her tiptoes touched.
I screamed her name and wanted to tell her to take the headpiece off, but she was way ahead of me. She reached up and flung it to the ground. When she did, she stopped glowing and returned to the ground. The crown lay there looking rather normal.
"Magic," Jess accused, pointing at the offending piece of jewelry.
"Ya think?" Hector offered his two cents. I rolled my eyes at the jerk.
He strolled over to the safety deposit boxes. "The really dangerous shit must be in here. There isn't even a key." he yanked a metal drawer with his hand.
"Maybe those aren't drawers at all." Jess questioned.
"With magic, there's always questions." Hector nodded sagely.
"Speaking of magic jewelry," He nodded to the headpiece laying on the ground, "I have a theory now. Raina, take off your bracelet and tell one of us to do something."
"What?" I gave him my most serious WTF face.
"Take off your bracelet. The one your dad just gave you. If jewelry can be magic... well, I think that's what changed. He sure put it on you real quick when he saw you, is all."
I looked at my wrist, and my face flushed. I had all but forgotten the bracelet in the rush of excitement to finally see my dad. I strongly doubted that my father would give me a magic bracelet. What a joke. Also—I didn't do magic like Hector and Jess.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I insisted
"Look, before, I had to do what you said. Like when you made me hand you back your phone or get in your car. But now I don't. At first, I thought it was this underground place. But... Now, I'm wondering if it's your new bracelet. It caught my eye, is all."
I glanced down to my wrist. Hector was so far off. Daddy was just giving me a present. He always did nice things for me. Like, make sure I had a nice snack after school cause I never ate the cafeteria food. He spoiled me. We'd sit and talk about my day while I ate. I was his world. I clutched the bracelet tightly.
"Put it down and tell us to jump or something." Hector insisted
Hector was annoying, so I was going to prove him wrong. I undid the clasp with nimble fingers.
I huffed. "You are so ridiculous. I'll prove it to you." I sat the bracelet gently on the ground by my foot.
"Jess and Hector, hop on one foot." My face was all snark. How dumb was this?
To my surprise, they both started hopping.
I rolled my eyes, "Jess this is not funny. You don't have to play along with him."
"I'm not!" Her eyes were wide with surprise, "This is weird. Tell me to stop now." She demanded.
"Stop hopping, both of you." I ordered, as panic began to seep into my very bones. "You mean this is real? I can tell people to do things, and they do them?"
"It would seem so." Jess was still looking at me with surprise.
"Well," said a voice from behind us, "things just got interesting."